


This world's an ugly place

by cheinsaw



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Developing Relationship, F/F, High School, Middle School, Prom, Punk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-24
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-02-18 14:31:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2351756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cheinsaw/pseuds/cheinsaw
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(but you're so beautiful to me.)</p>
<p>Mystia, Kyouko, garage bands, and growing up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> please let someone else ship this I CAN'T DO THIS ALONE

Kyouko dreads middle school. She hates it, she loathes it, with all her might, and she hasn't even been there yet. But she knows. She can feel it, she can feel it's going to be horrible. Middle school is when stuff gets _real_. There's backstabbing and drama and Kyouko doesn't want any of it, doesn't even like school in the first place, and for the whole summer she can't think of a fate worse than the dark clouds of Middle School looming on the horizon.

"You're going to have so much fun," Byakuren, her foster mom, keeps saying, pressing kisses to the top of Kyouko's head. "Middle school isn't bad." But Kyouko can't believe her, and she's trying desperately to mask how scared she is under a thick layer of apathy. When the first day of class rolls around, black nail polish and the lyrics she's scribbled on her notebooks are the only weapons she has to defend herself. Flimsy as they are, she feels a little safer knowing that, at the very least, they set her apart from everyone else. For better or for worse.

Needless to say, she's surprised beyond belief that there is another girl in the class who shares them. _Lorelei, Mystia_ sits behind _Kasodani, Kyouko_ in every class with alphabetized assigned seating, and her nails are just as black, her notebooks just as defaced. She wears a lot of jewelry with blunt spikes, that's the first thing Kyouko notices, and she's always grumpy and half asleep. But they are the only two outcasts in the class, and Kyouko will turn around and tell Mystia good morning with a smile in homeroom every day, until the time Mystia lifts her sleepy head from her desk and says good morning back like they're old friends.

Mystia likes loud music and nighttime and grilled lamprey. Kyouko thinks she is the most interesting person in the world. It isn't long before they're inseparable, walking down the halls to their classes together, laughing at their own inside jokes, visiting each other's houses on the weekends, sitting together at every opportunity. Just _being_ together.

There are other weird kids in the school too, of course. Kyouko talks to them a few times, but they aren't the same kind of weird. She has to explain this to Byakuren a million times over—yeah, she doesn't exactly fit in, but she _does_ with Mystia, and with the other misfits it's like just it is with everyone else. "We click," she says one day, and she finds it's true. They do click. Mystia fits better than anyone else ever has with Kyouko. For the first time, she realizes, she has a best friend.

* * *

 

At Byakuren's gentle insistence, Kyouko auditions for the school chorus early on in the year, and is easily accepted. But, like most after school activities, it's no fun without friends. Kyouko, unable to bond with the other choir girls, is left with only one other option: convince Mystia to join too.

"You like to sing, right? You should join chorus with me!" Kyouko exclaims one day, remembering Mystia's love of singing, just one of the many secrets they've entrusted each other with.

"Yeah, but, I can't sing nice," Mystia says, looking down. "I can only sing loud."

"You don't have to sing nice to get in. I mean, I got in just fine!"

"Kyouko," Mystia says, soft but firm. "You sing really nice. They want you. They don't want me. My singing gives people headaches. The only place for singers like me is in punk bands."

Kyouko tries to think of a counterargument, but she can't. As harsh as it sounds, Mystia is right.

"I'm not upset," Mystia adds. "I kinda wanted to make my own band someday anyway. Like, girl punk."

"I always wanted to start a band!" Kyouko squeals. "I want to learn how to play bass."

"Then let's do it!" Mystia says, just as excited, suddenly throwing her arms around Kyouko. "I'll learn guitar. And we can both sing."

"This is gonna be awesome," Kyouko says, grinning into Mystia's shoulder.

Being a choir girl is not very interesting to Kyouko, but it does give her an opportunity to hone her singing abilities. When she comes home after rehearsals, she'll sing for Byakuren, and Byakuren will smile and fluff Kyouko's hair. "You have such a lovely voice," she always says, and it makes Kyouko beam.

Then, whenever she goes to Mystia's house, Mystia plays three-chord songs on her acoustic guitar, and Kyouko sings along happily, sitting by Mystia's side. They make a good pair. Kyouko can't wait until they can be a band for real. There couldn't be anything more wonderful than that, probably—being in a girl punk band with her best friend, playing their own songs loud and fast, without a care in the world.

* * *

They grow. The summer after they graduate junior high, Mystia dyes her hair cotton candy pink, and Kyouko does her own in teal. Kyouko saves up for her bass, learns to play on her own from books and internet searches. It's late in their freshman year of high school when they write their first real song together, short and fast and loud like all the best punk songs. They practice together in Kyouko's garage, which is not very big to begin with and contains quite the assortment of various lawn tools, old furniture, and boxes of clothes and appliances that Byakuren hasn't gotten around to doing something about yet. But it quickly becomes their space, a little hangout just for Mystia and Kyouko, where they can make as much noise as they want as long as Byakuren isn't sleeping.

The way their music reverberates off the walls and surrounds them quickly becomes Kyouko's favorite thing ever. The music feels cozy, in a way; it's something she and Mystia are creating together and it's in the air and it's impossible to ignore. Kyouko loves it, will scream in delight while playing her bass. The exhilaration is like nothing else she's ever felt, bright and happy and strong. When she's playing her bass, with Mystia on guitar, and both of them singing and yelling in harmony and time—there's nothing Kyouko couldn't do.


	2. Chapter 2

High school is long, an uncomfortable stretch of time, but they are together. It isn't easy, because high school is never easy for a girl with teal hair and a bass guitar and her best friend. But before they know it, they're about to graduate together for a second time, side by side. Except that in the last year of high school, no one lets them get by quietly anymore. They have to Be a Part of the Class. And that means, unfortunately, class events. Such as prom.

"What are we gonna do," Mystia groans, the week before the initial payments for prom tickets are due. Everyone, including the other weird kids in their class, seems to be on board with it. Except Mystia and Kyouko.

"I mean, I kind of want to go," Kyouko says truthfully. "But not without you."

"Prom is a bad idea," Mystia says, swinging her legs off the edge of Kyouko's bed. "It's a ton of money and we could just as easily have our own prom in your garage."

"Garage prom sounds really cool!" Kyouko exclaims. She hadn't thought of that, but it does, it sounds perfect, and it would be just the two of them. And the music would actually be good.

When Kyouko's in the shower the next morning, though, the perfect combination of prom ideas hits her, and she nearly jumps up and down. She can't _wait_ to tell Mystia.

"I had an idea," Kyouko says when they sit down for lunch together.

"Yeah?"

"Sneak into prom. We get fancy dresses at a thrift store and wear like sneakers and boots, and we get in the back way. And if it turns out shitty we can go to my garage." She's grinning, and Mystia's jaw nearly drops.

"You're a genius."

Kyouko beams.

* * *

Mystia's thrift store dress is white and comes from the "Formal Wear" section way in the back of the tiny secondhand shop. "You can't wear a wedding dress to prom!" Kyouko says when Mystia opens the door to the dressing room, draped in white ruffles.

"Sure I can," Mystia says, grinning, and twirls around for Kyouko to admire the dress. "I want to get the skirt a lot shorter and wear it with my boots."

On second thought, it sounds amazing to Kyouko. Mystia is the coolest person she knows, even after all this time.

It takes a while for Kyouko to find a dress of her own, eventually settling on a black cocktail dress from the discount rack of a cheap department store. She can't really decide if she likes it, but it's ruffly and it'll do for the occasion. And when she's next to Mystia, they'll be black and white, a perfect match.

On prom night, Kyouko arrives at Mystia's house just after sunset, taffeta scratching at her knees and comfortable black high tops on her feet. Mystia greets her in the wedding dress, now hemmed clumsily at her mid-thigh. "You look so good," Mystia says happily.

"You too! That dress is really pretty!" Kyouko can't stop smiling. "Are we all set to go?"

"Uh, almost. I gotta get my boots on. Oh! And one thing, I almost forgot."

Kyouko dutifully waits in the doorway, and when Mystia emerges from her kitchen in her boots, she's carrying a tiny red rose corsage. "This is for you."

"What? No way!" Kyouko giggles a little as Mystia pins it gently onto her chest and adjusts the flowers. "Beautiful," Mystia says, stepping back once she's done. "Let's go."

Mystia drives them to the ballroom the school rented for the the prom, classic punk songs blaring the whole way. The sky is so richly blue, the first stars just peeking out, and Kyouko feels so alive, so real, like this moment is what life is meant to be. Every time she looks over, Mystia is smiling, laughing, singing, and Kyouko has never been happier to be in that passenger seat.

Getting in is no problem. There's no doorman, no bouncer, none of the security they'd been expecting. They're kind of dressed for the part of a high school senior at prom, so they can just waltz right in. And they do. And _no one notices_.

"Uneventful," Mystia remarks, swishing her skirts.

"Yeah," Kyouko breathes. "'S almost like they want us here?"

They avoid getting too close to the center of the dance floor, skirting around the edges, not wanting to be thrown into the spotlight. Soon after they arrive, a slow song begins, and Mystia makes a face of disgust.

"I know," Kyouko says.

"Well. Anyway, would you like to dance?" Mystia asks, extending a hand. Kyouko giggles and takes it.

She holds Mystia close, nestles her head against Mystia's bare shoulder and breathes in the familiar scent of her best friend. Mystia's hands are at her waist, steady and comforting, as they sway together.

"People are staring," she says, squinting out into the crowd. If the other kids from their school hadn't noticed Mystia and Kyouko's presence before, they definitely are now.

"Good," Mystia replies. She moves one hand up to ruffle Kyouko's hair.

"Mystia?"

"Yeah?"

"I don't actually know how to dance. Like at all."

"It's okay, me neither," Mystia says, muffled in Kyouko's hair.

They gently rock back and forth together, not caring that the music is sappy and terrible. They're together, and warm and happy, and that's all that matters, for now. When the song is over they break apart, and look into each other's eyes, and they can't help but collapse into laughter.

* * *

"This kinda blows," Kyouko snorts after they've raided the snack buffet out of boredom for the fourth time. "Maybe we shoulda gone to my garage after all."

A smile lights up Mystia's face as she pops a tiny croissant in her mouth. "The night's still young."

The air outside is crisp and fresh, not quite summer warmth yet. Some other groups of rebel students are hanging around the building smoking, cupping their cigarettes in their hands to shield them from the breeze. Kyouko recognizes a few of the kids, and waves back when they acknowledge her and Mystia.

The ride home is quiet, with both of them tired out from having to yell over the loud dance pop music at prom. Mystia takes her shoes off to drive, saying they're killing her feet, and that's about as much as they talk. Kyouko, for one, is content to just sit and watch the darkened highway go by, small lights from houses and street lamps twinkling in the distance.

The garage is cool and still when Kyouko turns the light on, and after being at something as alien and strange as prom, the space feels especially like home. She busies herself with setting up the stereo while Mystia drops her boots in the corner.

"What do we actually do at garage prom?" Mystia asks.

"I dunno! I guess dance? But neither of us really can."

"We can just chill."

The music starts, a blast of guitar in the tiny space. "Yeah." Kyouko kicks her own shoes off, throwing them next to Mystia's. When she turns around, she's face to face with Mystia, barefoot in her hemmed wedding dress, and she looks so natural and _real_ that it makes Kyouko's heart nearly burst.

"Hey," she starts, not really thinking about what she's doing. "I really. Liked dancing with you." Her voice is shy and halting, but she doesn't care. "Can we...?"

A slow and cheesy blink-182 song is playing. Mystia pulls Kyouko close into her arms, and they begin the dance less than awkwardly this time, stepping softly in time with each other.

Now that Mystia's taken her heeled boots off, they're the same height, and when Kyouko looks up she's staring into Mystia's eyes, and the butterflies in her stomach are stronger, more fluttery, than ever before.

 _Kiss her_ , Kyouko thinks. _Kiss her kiss her kiss her_. She can't remember ever wanting anything more, not even her bass, not even that feeling of belonging she craved all her life. She wants to kiss her best friend _right now_.

"Can I kiss you?" she asks quietly, staring into Mystia's wide pupils.

Mystia grins and presses her lips against Kyouko's. It's quick, and she leans back to take a breath, and smiles, and Kyouko kisses her back, gripping her shoulders tight. It's better than she could've imagined.

When they finally break, they're both grinning, staring into each other's eyes. Kyouko can feel her cheeks flushing pink, but she doesn't care. She gently touches her nose to Mystia's, presses their foreheads together, and entwines their fingers.

"I wanted to do that for the longest time, you have no idea," Mystia breathes, her lips centimeters from Kyouko's.

Kyouko laughs softly, a little burst of happiness. "I'm so clueless. God. I didn't—realize that was what I wanted to—I think I've liked you _so long_ and I didn't realize it wasn't like a friendly thing."

"You're so cute," Mystia giggles, and cups Kyouko's face in her hands to kiss her again.

After they've worn themselves out from dancing and kissing each other's faces, Kyouko leads Mystia outside, and they lie on a blanket in the grass, watching the endless stars shining calmly in the sky. Without a word, Mystia's hand slips down to Kyouko's, and their fingers lace together so perfectly. And it is more beautiful than anything in the world, and the warmth could burn down a city.

"I really love you," Kyouko whispers, grinning so hard she thinks her cheeks might break.

"I love you too," Mystia says, and Kyouko can hear that she's just as happy. "Always."


End file.
